« Stewardship and giving bulletin bloopers | Main | An exercise in stewardship word association »
August 29, 2008
8 tips for writing better fundraising letters
We are far enough along in the church year to begin to make some predictions (or "forecasts" to borrow from business vocabulary) about where we'll end up as far as expenses and contributions.
If you're one of the few churches who is collecting more money than you know what to do with this year, feel blessed. If you're like most churches, you have enough data to tell you that you're not going to collect all the "pledges" or donations you need to meet your approved operating budget.
The two most common reponses are:
One way many churches choose to "become more strategic" is by sending a letter to their members stating the situation and restating the dependence upon the person in the pew to fund the ministry of their church.
Most people who are charged with writing this letter feel overwhelmed and underprepared to do so. Reading over these 8 tips for writing better fundraising letters reminded me that keeping it simple is really the best approach.
We, as church leaders, should feel strongly enough about the ministry we committed to earlier in the year to make a strong appeal to the entire membership body explaining the situation and why ever dollar is necessary to fully fund the work of the body of Christ.
Have you ever written a letter like this? What was the outcome? Would you be willing to post your letter for others to review?
Posted by bstroup at August 29, 2008 8:45 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.lifeway.com/cgi-bin/mt4.1/mt-tb.cgi/1282